The present invention is concerned with a coating, core or inclusion, composite frozen confections containing it and a process for the preparation of such composite frozen confections.
In the field of ice confectionery there is a need to procuring new eating experiences and new textures. Particularly attractive is the contrast of texture between a soft aerated ice confectionery and crispy inclusions or coating layers.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,542,028, composite ice confection cakes comprising a multiplicity of superimposed successive thin layers of ice cream separated by interleaved very thin chocolate layers are made by successively extruding ice cream ribbons through slotted extrusion outlets on a conveyor, spraying thin chocolate layers on the ice cream ribbons and cutting portions transversally to the multilayered strand being conveyed.
Composite ice confections are known which consist of an ice cream combined with a biscuit or a crisp wafer, in particular of the type such as cakes, bars and cones, cigars or sandwiches made of wafer surrounding an ice cream or filled with ice cream. These products must include a system which makes the biscuit or the wafer impervious to the moisture coming from the ice cream, in order to prevent it from losing its crisp nature, either during storage or during consumption. This is usually carried out by coating either the surface of the biscuit in contact with the ice cream, or the ice cream itself, with a fatty composition, for example, with chocolate or with a coating that contains chocolate.
It has been suggested, e.g. in U.S. Pat. No. 3,508,926, to reuse crumb or ground baked biscuit for secondary products, e.g., as inclusions in bulk ice cream. The problem that existed in those type products was that the baked food particles lost their crispness in the presence of water coming from the ice cream. In baked food materials, the starch is gelatinized in the baking process and becomes receptive to moisture. In order to solve the problem of high water absorptivity of particles of food material containing gelatinized starch, it was suggested to mix the particles of food material with a mixture of a shortening and emulsifier, then to rewet them, preferably with a sugar syrup and to finally dry them. The resulting crunchy particles could be used as inclusions in bulk ice cream without losing their crunchiness and crispiness.
French patent application FR-A-2204363 discloses a biscuit composition which is also suitable for use in ice cream without losing its crispy character. This composition is made by forming a dispersion of chocolate in a sugar syrup in the presence of an emulsifier, heating the dispersion, incorporating into it a cooked biscuit flour, cooling and forming the paste obtained into agglomerated biscuit sheets or cups into which or between which ice cream is deposited.
Despite these products, there is still a need for ice cream confectioneries that contain crispy biscuit or biscuit type particles or materials therein, and this need is satisfied by the present invention.